Reporters Li Yuyang and Li Zhenghao reported in Shanghai
A few days ago, it was reported that the live broadcasting business department of Station B (09626.HK) plans to lay off employees, and the list has been preliminarily drawn up, which will affect the entire live broadcast department. In this regard, the B station emergency response said that the live broadcast business is very good, the gross profit has increased for three consecutive years, and it is actively recruiting externally, with more than 40 positions in the recruitment.
"I've been at home for more than a month, and the basic salary is still being paid normally." An internal employee of Station B told the "China Business Daily" reporter that Station B was basically optimizing personnel during this period, although it is not clear whether the live broadcast department of Station B is laying off employees, but it is almost impossible for the entire department to be ended. The reporter then asked other staff of Station B for relevant information, and the other party said that he heard that the relevant departments were laying off employees, but the specific number was not clear.
As for the reason for personnel optimization, a widely discussed statement is that the live broadcast department of station B may use unlimited rebates higher than the industry standard to brush the flow of water for the settled guild, resulting in an imbalance in the ecology of the live broadcast area. For this statement and related issues, this reporter contacted Station B, but did not receive a reply as of press time.
In the past three years, Station B has accelerated its breaking of the circle, seeking commercial monetization models outside the game while pursuing user growth. According to the financial report, the monthly active users of Station B in the fourth quarter of 2021 reached 272 million, an increase of 35% year-on-year; in 2021, the annual operating income was 19.38 billion yuan, an increase of 62% year-on-year, of which the live broadcast and value-added business achieved operating income of 6.935 billion yuan (mainly from membership fees, virtual gifts brushed by live channels, paid content and virtual items sold on video and audio and comic platforms), an increase of 80.33% year-on-year, accounting for 35.78% of the total operating income, and has become the largest business of Station B.
The above-mentioned sources said that they have no feeling about the optimization of personnel in the live broadcast department of Station B, after all, many Internet manufacturers are optimizing personnel and have become numb. The reporter noted that at the 2021 financial report meeting, Chen Rui, chairman and CEO of Station B, clearly stated that Station B should enter the stage of cost reduction and efficiency increase, "control all the money that should not be spent, and at the same time improve the efficiency of the money that should be spent."
While large factories are reducing costs and increasing efficiency, the supervision of game live broadcasting has become more and more stringent. On April 15, the Department of Online Audio-visual Program Management of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television and the Publication Bureau of the Central Propaganda Department jointly issued a notice to strengthen the management of live game broadcasting on online audio-visual program platforms, requiring that online audio-visual platforms be strictly prohibited from disseminating illegal games, and that illegal and immoral personnel be strictly prohibited from using live broadcasts to speak out.
Ecological change
It is understood that the above-mentioned settled guild usually refers to the anchor guild or live broadcast guild, which is an emerging industry that accompanies the rise of the live broadcast industry, the guild through the recruitment of contracts and training anchors, and then transported to various live broadcast platforms to achieve profitability, some guilds will also brush water in the live broadcast to improve the popularity of anchors.
A "small transparent" anchor in the B station console game area said that as a low-level anchor, he has not joined the guild, but without adding the guild, no one brushes the popularity, and he has to turn several pages in the host area to see his live broadcast room. In fact, it is a common operation in the live broadcasting industry for the guild to brush the list and brush the popularity of the contracted anchors.
The financial data of Station B also seems to be reflected. According to the financial report, in the fourth quarter of 2021, the operating cost of Station B was 4.683 billion yuan, an increase of 62% year-on-year; of which the revenue sharing cost accounted for 2.428 billion yuan, a sharp increase of 91% year-on-year. The explanation given by Station B is "due to the increase in revenue share paid to live streamers and content creators, as well as the increase in payments to distribution channels as mobile games and value-added services are expanded".
Although live broadcasting and value-added services are the largest source of revenue for Station B, the growth rate has begun to slow down. The data shows that in Q2 and Q3 in 2021, the year-on-year growth rate is more than 95%, but Q4 has dropped to 52%.
In this context, station B's adjustment of the live broadcast business department may indeed be empty.
Unlike many other platform anchors, in addition to the identity of the B station anchor, there is another role - UP master. In February 2018, Station B launched the "Bilibili Creation Incentive Plan", according to which UP owners can earn income to support themselves. But since the beginning of this year, many UP owners have said that the creative incentives in the B station have become less, and some full-time UP owners have said that their income has "dropped by 80%."
In February this year, Station B was exposed to layoffs in the game department, calling the layoffs "graduation day" and the departure process as "bilibili graduation day" as a guide to various matters.
"If the main contract of up signed is not changed, it is to engage in some guilds and the heads of live broadcast departments." There are views on this analysis. As of 2021, more than 70% of the million fan UP owners of Station B are also anchors.
Some B station live broadcast users said that the first two years of the BLS award ceremony will also brush gifts for favorite anchors, with the guild after the large-scale entry, basically do not brush gifts; another user said that the guild for the anchor on the captain (B station launched a privileged service, similar to the member subscription live broadcast) is a daily operation, has witnessed several 200 ships of anchors in a few days to become 2000 ships, but usually there are few bullet screens.
Go?
Since its launch in 2015, station B live broadcasting has not been outstanding in many live broadcasting platforms such as Douyu, Huya, and Yingke. However, the situation ushered in a change in 2019, Station B began to vigorously explore the field of live broadcasting, spent a high price to invite the former "Fighting Fish Sister" Feng Timo to settle in, and was also rumored to spend a huge amount of money to win the "League of Legends" global finals in China for three years exclusive live broadcast rights.
Live broadcasting is the main focus area of Station B in 2020. At the beginning of 2020, Wang Yuyang, former CEO of Big Goose Culture, and Wang Zhikai, COO, joined the live broadcast department of Station B; during the new crown pneumonia epidemic, Station B attracted many new KOLs and anchors to settle in through cloud music festivals, cloud exhibitions, cloud performances and other activities, and related live broadcast categories were constantly expanding. In July of that year, B Station Live signed the first UP main "Old Tomato" of the main station with tens of millions of fans, which is a moment worth remembering for the majority of B station users.
Public data shows that in 2021, the number of monthly broadcasters of Station B increased by 50% year-on-year, the number of revenue anchors increased by 59% year-on-year, and the per capita income of anchors increased by 38% year-on-year. Among them, the growth of the game live broadcast field is obvious, in 2021 in the game live broadcast field, the monthly start volume of B station increased by 79% year-on-year, and the number of monthly viewers increased by 60% year-on-year.
At the beginning of 2022, Station B released the incentive policy for live broadcast guilds for a new year. The policy shows that new anchors who enter Station B after January 1, 2022 enjoy 70% of the irresponsible reward share for 3 months, and can also get 20% of the reward share by completing tasks on the 50% basic share after 3 months.
However, the live broadcast of station B is still in a tepid state. "Do you see that Feng Timo has an influence?" "The entertainment area does not watch station B" "station B live broadcast only watch stand-alone games, LOL matches"... In the eyes of the outside world, the B station live broadcast has not yet been established, there is no circle like the B station itself, and Feng Timo and the League of Legends global finals are more just the surface of the B station live broadcast.
On the mature track of online live broadcasting, Station B live broadcast should not only compete with veteran live broadcast platforms such as Douyu and Huya in the field of game live broadcasting, but also meet rookies such as Douyin in the field of live broadcasting on the runway (face value). So, what is the foothold of the B station live broadcast?
The reporter noted that the two-dimensional game live broadcast and the virtual anchor may be the two major weapons for the live broadcast of station B. As a popular partition recommended by the B station live broadcast, the live broadcast of the B station of the two-dimensional game "Original God" has not decreased for more than a year, whether it is the number of anchors, or the number of users on the ship for the anchor, the amount of gifts brushed is higher than other games.
Perhaps it is difficult for users to brush gifts for a virtual anchor whose face is not exposed, but in station B, as long as the holster is good and will be alive, it may be able to get tips, especially in the live broadcast section of "Original God". The reporter witnessed in the "Original God" live broadcast room of the well-known UP master of station B, "Brother Daxiang is coming", who personally sent a 50,000 yuan SC (eye-catching message) for the anchor.
Some people believe that B station did not catch up with the good time to do live broadcasting, one is that the live broadcast track is already a red sea, and the internal volume is very serious; the second is that the supervision of game live broadcasting is strengthening; third, the B station users are generally relatively young, the consumption willingness is not very strong, in short, the development of B station live broadcast is not easy.
It can be predicted that the future development path of B station live broadcasting will not be smooth, and the follow-up progress will need to be handed over to the anchor and user. "Ten years of kings no one asks, once the melon skin of the world knows", this is a summary of the netizens on the famous anchor of Douyu Sima fame road, which shows that the accumulation of live broadcast time, will be a necessary condition for a simple anchor to become famous. As long as young people like ACG, like ghost animals, and like to make stems, the B station live broadcast will not be cold.
"The company continues to invest in the live broadcast business, as a platform capability to enhance real-time interaction for creators, will continue to recruit and iterate the talent echelon, and is still recruiting outstanding talents, with more than 40 positions in the recruitment." Station B said.
The reporter also noted that at present, Station B is indeed recruiting personnel related to live broadcasting business, including senior event operation of live e-commerce, senior entertainment business cooperation of live broadcasting, senior business planning of live broadcasting, and senior revenue activity planning of live broadcasting. As for the next step of the B station live broadcast, it is still worth paying attention to.